Pioli: "Top - class performance required on Saturday"

APPIANO GENTILE

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Stefano Pioli

held a news conference at Suning Training Centre in Memory of Angelo Moratti earlier, ahead of Inter's trip to Torino on Saturday.

"We're on good form and we're working hard to maintain it. Our formation is of relative importance and lots of the work we've done this week has been excellent," said the coach.

"Banega is a quality player and he has the ability to find pockets of space to hurt the opposition in the final third. Credit to him for continuing to work hard when he was out of the team. He was flexible and got his head down. I pick my team based on who can best perform both phases of the game.

"The players know that I pick my side in the team's best interests. I go with the most reliable players. They're all keen and I'm sure they can all perform. I have lots of quality to choose from but I have to work on one match at a time. Saturday's game will be tough because Torino are solid at home and have only lost against Juventus. We'll require a top-class performance.

"Torino have some really talented individuals and we'll need to be wary. We must take things one game at a time and win consistently from now until the end of the season."

Pioli also gave his take on the Milan derby which will be played at 12:30: "We've played very few matches during the daytime at San Siro and personally I like it when the ground is full and there's lots of passionate support. It's a game which draws great interest from all over the world and that kick-off time will allow a lot more people to watch it.

"I enjoyed the ovation I got from the crowd. That will inspire me to focus even more on the job we all have to do here. Ultimately if we don't get results come the end of the season, everything we've done will count for nothing. It all comes down to the work we put in and our ability to be a team.

"The players know how to occupy the space and move off the ball. The more players there are who can exploit the space, the more dangerous they become and that's obviously a plus for us. Brozovic can do all of that.

"We've had a look at last season's final league table and 80 points was the tally required to secure Champions League football. Given the rate the other teams are going at, however, it could even be higher this year. We have to produce something exceptional to reach that total and we must take things one game at a time. That's the right approach to keep going.

"For now though we're focused on Torino and our chances of coming away with another three points. I'm focused on the job I'm doing and the present. If we work hard this season, we can lay the foundations for even better results in coming years.

"We don't have an easy run-in but we do have the chance to make up ground with some six-pointers. We mustn't make mistakes, however, and need to take things game by game. We've analysed what we did well and badly against Atalanta and we know what we want to achieve."